Identity Verification in Supply Chains: Securing Every Driver, Vendor, and Partner

In March 2026, more than 12 tons of KitKat bars disappeared en route from Italy to Poland amid a rise in fraudulent carriers and cyber-enabled scams. Twelve tons of chocolate makes a good headline, but the trend underneath it is less entertaining.

As more of the global supply chain has moved onto digital platforms, it has become more exposed to highly targeted and costly forms of cargo theft. In the US and Canada, for example, the theft prevention and recovery network Verisk CargoNet estimates that losses surged 60% to almost $725 million in 2025, despite little change in the overall number of recorded supply-chain crime events.

Identity verification, combined with business verification checks, as well as ongoing monitoring, help prevent these scams.

What is identity verification in supply chains?

Before a driver or courier is authorized to collect a shipment, digital identity verification can check their identity document, match it to their face, confirm liveness, and assess database, device, or contact signals for signs of fraud. For carriers, suppliers, and other companies, business verification can confirm that the organization is registered and licensed, establish who owns or controls it, and screen it against watchlists and trusted third-party sources.

The idea underneath both is that a person or organization is genuinely who or what it claims to be. In logistics it reaches drivers, couriers, warehouse workers, supplier representatives, brokers, carriers, contractors, and business owners.

Why supply chain security depends on verified parties

Modern supply chains involve many handoffs and layers of subcontracting. Each new participant creates another opportunity for stolen credentials, unauthorized subcontracting, insider abuse, or account takeover.

Strong supply chain security therefore depends on maintaining a chain of trust alongside the physical chain of custody. Verification can help businesses:

• Stop an impersonator from collecting or redirecting goods
• Prevent fake companies from entering procurement and carrier systems
• Confirm drivers’ identities, licenses, and job/transport assignments they’ve been authorized to perform
• Detect changes in ownership, company status, insurance, or operating authority
• Record who was approved, what was checked, and when custody changed.

Identity verification vs. business verification: The two pillars of supply chain trust

Supply-chain security depends on knowing both which businesses are involved and who is acting on their behalf. Business verification (KYB) checks can confirm that a carrier, supplier, or vendor genuinely exists, identify who owns or controls it, and reveal potential risks. Identity verification (KYC) can also establish the identity of the drivers, representatives, and beneficial owners connected to that business. KYC and KYB complement each other: one verifies the organization, and the other verifies the people behind it.

Both terms come out of regulated financial compliance, and both work as supply-chain fraud controls: investigating a supplier before onboarding, or confirming that the person collecting a shipment genuinely represents the approved carrier. Any checks should stay proportionate to the risk and inside applicable employment, privacy, biometric, and data-protection rules.

Know your customer (KYC) for drivers and individuals

Drivers, couriers, and warehouse workers are not necessarily customers in the formal regulatory sense. However, the identity checks associated with know your customer can help supply-chain businesses verify individuals before giving them access to a platform, facility, vehicle, or shipment, reducing exposure to fraud.

In June 2026, a man allegedly used fraudulent pickup documents to collect nearly 40,000 pounds of tungsten oxide worth $2.86 million from a Pennsylvania facility. What traditional document checks missed was that the person collecting the cargo did have legitimate-looking credentials but still had no connection to the authorized shipment.

Identity-document checks, face matching, and liveness confirm that the applicant matches the identity they submitted, while driver’s license verification confirms the license is valid and appropriate for the vehicle. The driver can then be reverified at pickup, helping prevent someone using a forged, stolen, or shared document from taking control of the shipment.

Know your business (KYB) for partners and vendors

Identity checks can establish who a driver is, but they do not show whether the carrier, fleet operator, supplier, or contractor behind that individual is legitimate. Know your business checks close this gap by confirming that the business is active and holds the required licenses, and by establishing who ultimately owns or controls it. 

The representative arranging the shipment or opening the account should also be identified, and their authority to act for the business confirmed. Together, these checks can expose criminals impersonating companies, operating through dormant entities, or using compromised corporate accounts.

Suggested read: KYB and KYC in 2026: Complementary Pillars of Trust in a Complex Financial System

Verifying partners and vendors with KYB verification

Carriers, suppliers, and vendors can introduce operational, financial, and reputational risk before goods change hands. 

In 2023, criminals used the identity of Sultan Trans, a legitimate US trucking company, to obtain a shipment of yogurt and plant-based milk from a Danone facility in Virginia. They used the carrier’s motor carrier number and a fake email address on a freight load board, making the broker believe it was dealing with the legitimate company. The shipment, worth about $50,000, was then diverted from its intended destination. 

Business verification checks: Registration, ownership, and controls

Effective KYB verification establishes whether the business legally exists, who owns or controls it, and whether it is authorized to perform the work it claims to offer. Registration details, including the legal name, registration number, jurisdiction, address, and current status, should therefore be checked against authoritative registries and licensing databases.

A registered company may still lack the operating authority, insurance, facilities, safety record, or certifications needed to fulfill a contract. These claims should be verified independently, along with any stated relationships with manufacturers, carriers, or other partners.

Vendor due diligence before onboarding

Vendor due diligence should establish whether a company exists and whether the business can actually perform the role for which it is being hired. The evidence required therefore depends on what the vendor will supply, access, or control.

A carrier collecting high-value goods may need to demonstrate active operating authority, appropriate cargo insurance, control of its stated fleet, and use of declared subcontractors. A supplier of safety-critical components may instead need to provide valid quality certifications, traceability information, and recall history. Vendors with access to internal systems or sensitive data may require additional cybersecurity scrutiny.

Ownership, sanctions exposure, financial stability, and bank-account ownership may be relevant across all these relationships. Details that do not make sense should prompt further investigation, such as a recently incorporated company claiming decades of trading history, payment instructions naming an unrelated entity, or contact information inconsistent with the supposed scale of the business.

Supplier onboarding without the friction

Poor onboarding can create friction by asking every applicant for the same large document pack, including information that may already be available from reliable sources. Efficient supplier onboarding can start with the company’s legal name, registration number, and jurisdiction. These details can then be used to retrieve registry information, after which the results can be presented to the representative for confirmation or correction.

Further evidence can then be requested according to the supplier’s role and risk. A low-risk office supplier may require little beyond basic business verification, whereas an overseas manufacturer with opaque ownership or responsibility for safety-critical goods may need enhanced review.

Vendor onboarding at scale

The challenge of vendor onboarding at scale is maintaining consistent decisions across countries, business types, and internal systems. Each verified vendor should have a record linking its legal identity, ownership, approved representatives, bank details, licenses, certifications, and current verification status.

That record can be used across procurement, transportation, warehouse access, and payment systems so every team works with the same approved business. Registry searches, ownership checks, screening, and document-expiry tracking can be automated, while conflicting or incomplete cases are routed to reviewers.

Managing vendor and third-party risk continuously

An approved partner does not necessarily remain low-risk. A carrier may lose its insurance, a supplier may change owners, a legitimate account may be compromised, or a vendor may introduce an unverified subcontractor. Vendor risk management and third-party risk management therefore need to keep each approval current and respond when a change affects what that business should be allowed to do. 

From one-time checks to ongoing risk monitoring

Ongoing monitoring can detect:

• Changes to company status, address, directors, ownership, or UBOs
• Expired operating licenses, insurance, certificates, or identity documents
• New sanctions, watchlist, or relevant adverse-media matches
• Bank, email-domain, phone, or administrator changes
• Abnormal loads, routes, invoices, devices, or logins
• Undisclosed subcontracting or new operating regions

The system should preserve evidence, explain the alert, and route it by severity, with automatic restriction for clear critical risk, step-up verification for an anomaly, or human review where more context is needed.

Scoring and segmenting supply chain partners by risk

Risk scoring applies stronger controls where potential harm is greatest. Factors may include shipment value, product sensitivity, geographic exposure, system or site access, company age, ownership complexity, subcontracting, licensing, past performance, and fraud signals.

Low-risk partners may receive streamlined onboarding. Medium-risk partners may require more evidence or periodic reverification. High-risk partners may need enhanced due diligence, senior approval, real-time handoff checks, or access restrictions.

A business is a network rather than a single registry entry, so scoring should consider its owners, directors, representatives, related entities, and observed activity. The result should show which factors affected the rating, when the information was last checked, and why a reviewer approved, rejected, or overrode the automated recommendation.

Suggested read: Trust on the Move: Fraud Prevention and Verification in the Mobility Industry (2026)

The hidden risks: Fraud, theft, and unverified third parties

Some of the most damaging supply-chain scams succeed because they borrow the identity of a person or business that appears trustworthy. Supply chain risk management must therefore establish not only whether a company or document is genuine, but whether the person presenting it is authorized to act in that particular shipment, order, or payment. 

Identity theft and impersonation in logistics

Impersonating an established carrier allows criminals to exploit the reputation, registration, and operating history of a legitimate business. They may copy company details, create a similar email domain, take over a load-board account, or use a stolen driver’s license to pose as an approved operator.

In March 2026, a US defendant pleaded guilty to defrauding Amazon Logistics of more than $3.5 million. He registered 23 trucking businesses with the platform, some under false names or using other transportation companies’ identifying information without permission, and then billed for trailer movements that were not completed.

Effective identity theft prevention requires the company and its representative to be verified through sources the applicant does not control. A carrier should be contacted using independently obtained details, while account recovery, new administrators, changed bank information, or unfamiliar devices should prompt renewed verification.

Double brokering and carrier fraud

Double brokering occurs when a carrier accepts a load and passes it to another carrier without the shipper's or original broker's knowledge. The performing carrier may be left unpaid, while the cargo owner loses visibility over who has custody of the goods.

The risk becomes harder to detect when criminals also impersonate a legitimate carrier. The FMCSA warns that fraudsters may use another carrier’s registration numbers or pose as an unregistered broker. Registration and contact details should be checked through official sources, while the driver and vehicle arriving at pickup should match the carrier and load that were approved.

Any last-minute substitution of the carrier, driver, vehicle, destination, or payment instructions should be confirmed independently before custody changes. 

Identity and business verification can help reduce carrier impersonation and unauthorized substitutions, but they need to be combined with shipment-level authorization and ongoing checks to address double brokering.

Fake suppliers and vendor fraud

Vendor fraud may involve an entirely fictitious supplier, a copy of a real company, or collusion between an approved vendor and an insider. In August 2025, the proprietor of a Singapore supplier was sentenced to 35 months’ imprisonment after conspiring with a senior manager at Hakuto Singapore to generate fictitious purchase orders and invoices for services that were neither required nor performed. The scheme led Hakuto to pay approximately S$503,000 (approx. US$394,000), which the pair split.

Business verification can expose a fictitious or cloned supplier, but it cannot prevent a genuine vendor and trusted insider from fabricating transactions. Responsibility for creating purchase orders, confirming delivery, approving invoices, and releasing payment should therefore be separated, while changes to vendor bank details should be confirmed independently.

Supplier fraud can also create safety risks. In February 2026, the UK Serious Fraud Office reported that the director of AOG Technics had used forged airworthiness documents and invented employees while selling more than 60,000 aircraft engine parts. This illustrates why checks must extend beyond the supplier’s legal identity.

Verifying drivers: The first line of defense

Criminals can impersonate approved drivers, compromise their accounts, or exploit last-minute substitutions to collect cargo. Before goods are released, digital identity verification can confirm that the person at the pickup point is the driver approved by the carrier and assigned to that particular shipment. 

Real-time driver identity checks at pickup and delivery

Onboarding creates a verified driver profile, but it cannot prove that it is the same person returning for every job. At pickup, digital identity verification can match the arriving driver to that profile and check the result against the current dispatch record.

The check should reflect the risk. A returning driver collecting a routine shipment might complete a quick facial and liveness check, while a new device, replacement driver, high-value load, or last-minute change could require additional evidence. 

The same principle applies at the other end of the journey. Verifying the recipient can help prevent goods from being handed to an impostor or diverted to a location introduced through fraudulent delivery instructions.

License, certification, and background screening

Confirming a driver’s identity does not establish that they are qualified or legally permitted to perform the job. License verification should confirm that the document is genuine and current, covers the relevant class of vehicle, and has not been suspended or revoked.

Additional certifications may be required for commercial vehicles, hazardous materials, forklifts, cross-border transport, or access to secure facilities. A driver background check may also be appropriate for roles involving particularly sensitive goods or locations.

These checks answer different questions. Identity verification establishes who the driver is, license and certification checks establish what they are qualified to do, and background screening considers other legally permitted information relevant to their suitability. 

Requirements also vary by jurisdiction. US employers hiring commercial drivers must conduct a pre-employment query of the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, while employers in Great Britain using the DVLA service need the driver’s permission, the last eight characters of their driving license number, and a check code supplied by the driver. 

Continuous monitoring vs. one-time verification

A legitimate driver or business can become risky after approval. Documents expire, owners change, and verified accounts can be sold, shared, or taken over. Across our customer base, 76% of fraud occurs after onboarding. Logistics is no exception to this.

Perpetual KYC, or pKYC, keeps profiles current through event-driven and periodic reviews. Triggers may include an expired document, a new device, failed face checks, an unusual pickup, an administrator change, or a mismatch between the assigned and arriving driver. 

Continuous monitoring does not have to mean constant biometric surveillance or repeated full onboarding. A trusted returning driver may need only a brief check at handoff, while a material change or suspicious event prompts closer review.

Suggested listen: Fraud on Wheels: Fighting the Growing Threat of Mobility Fraud 

Preparing for embedded payments and future licensing

As large delivery, taxi, and other supply-chain platforms increasingly bring payments in-house, some may move toward obtaining payment licenses so they can collect funds and pay users or partners directly rather than relying entirely on third-party payment providers. Building robust identity and business verification processes from the outset can make this transition easier by establishing reliable identity records, ownership information, verification histories, and audit trails that can support future regulatory and compliance requirements. This gives platforms a stronger foundation as their role in the payments ecosystem evolves.

Choosing the right identity verification technology

Supply chains need identity verification software as sophisticated as the threats facing logistics. At each handoff, the technology may need to establish whether the person is genuine, whether the business behind them is legitimate, and whether that person is authorized to handle the shipment. The right software should connect these decisions in a layered approach while applying additional checks when the risk warrants them. 

Identity verification software vs. manual checks

Requiring staff to inspect every identity document and business record is difficult across round-the-clock logistics operations. It can also leave loading-bay or warehouse personnel making high-stakes decisions while shipments are waiting.

Identity verification software can automate repeatable checks such as document authentication, face matching, liveness detection, registry searches, screening, and risk assessment, before sending inconclusive or suspicious cases to trained reviewers.

Clear decision reasons, step-up checks, manual-review routes, and fallbacks are essential when automated checks cannot reach a reliable result.

Automating driver, vendor, and partner verification at scale

Automation is most useful when it creates a chain of linked approvals. During onboarding, business verification can establish that a carrier or vendor is legitimate, while ID verification and license checks confirm the identity and eligibility of its drivers. Each approved driver can then be linked to the verified business they represent.

When a shipment is created, the dispatch system can record the assigned driver, vehicle, carrier, location, and collection time. At pickup, the driver’s identity can be checked against that live record before releasing the cargo. A mismatch, such as a different driver, vehicle, carrier, or collection location, can trigger additional checks or manual review.

Ongoing monitoring adds another layer of protection: it detects changes after initial approval. Businesses can monitor relevant company and identity information for changes that could affect a counterparty’s risk profile, rather than relying on a one-time verification decision. 

Together, business verification, identity checks, and ongoing monitoring create a more complete chain of trust across the supply chain – from onboarding to the moment goods change hands and throughout the business relationship.

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FAQ: Identity verification in supply chains

• What is KYB in a supply chain?

  KYB verifies a carrier, supplier, broker, contractor, or other legal entity. It checks whether the company exists and is active, who owns or controls it, whether its representative is authorized, and whether risk factors require review.

• How do you verify a delivery driver?

  Verifying a delivery driver involves confirming their identity, driving eligibility, and authorization to handle the shipment. Digital identity verification can combine an ID document check with face matching and liveness detection, while license and certification checks establish eligibility. At pickup or delivery, the driver can then be matched to the approved carrier, vehicle, shipment, location, and scheduled time.

• What’s the difference between KYC and KYB?

  Know your customer (KYC) verifies an individual, while know your business (KYB) verifies a business, including its ownership and control.

• How does identity verification prevent double brokering?

  Identity verification can help detect carrier impersonation and unauthorized substitutions, but it can’t prevent double brokering on its own. Real-time IDV, carrier verification, trusted contacts, vehicle matching, and shipment credentials can help confirm that the person, business, and vehicle arriving at pickup match those approved for the load. Any unexpected change in the carrier, driver, vehicle, destination, or payment instructions should be independently verified before the shipment is released.